Warrior-Scholar Project helps veteran attend Yale

Published 6:39 pm, Saturday, February 6, 2016

Robert Henderson photographed on York Street in New Haven, Tuesday, January 26, 2016, attends Yale University through the Warrior-Scholar Project.

Robert Henderson photographed on York Street in New Haven, Tuesday, January 26, 2016, attends Yale University through the Warrior-Scholar Project.

Photo: CATHERINE AVALONE — NEW HAVEN REGISTER

Image 2 of 2

Robert Henderson photographed on York Street in New Haven, Tuesday, January 26, 2016, attends Yale University through the Warrior-Scholar Project. The two-week program helps veterans transition from military to college. less

Robert Henderson photographed on York Street in New Haven, Tuesday, January 26, 2016, attends Yale University through the Warrior-Scholar Project. The two-week program helps veterans transition from military to ... more

NEW HAVEN >> Rob Henderson served as a staff sergeant at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany for eight years, working on aircraft defense.

Today, he is a 26-year-old sophomore at Yale University, majoring in psychology and working through doubts about his ability to transition into academic life.

As a major part of that transition, in the summer of 2014 he received leave from the Air Force to attend the Warrior-Scholar Project at Yale University. This summer, the project, which launched at Yale in 2012, will take place on 12 campuses across the country. More than 200 veterans will participate, 30 at Yale.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure I had any chance at all” about getting into Yale after taking part in the two-week program, said Henderson, who is from Red Bluff, California. “It was definitely a shot in the dark.”

“It seemed to be kind of the solution to what I was looking for,” he said. “Veterans who have not been in school for several years need to refresh their academic skills” and many “have some questions about the admissions process.”

But Henderson knew his time in military service would soon come to a close; he left the Air Force in July 2015. “I kind of realized I was a little more than a year from my separation and I knew I wanted to go to college.” Even so, “I had some reluctance as to my academic abilities,” he said.

He emailed the Yale Veterans Association to find out “how cohesive it was and whether or not I might fit in,” and decided to apply. At first, he was wait-listed, but he was finally accepted.

The program, based in the humanities, teaches the veterans about the ideas that they’ve spent their military service defending: democracy, freedom, liberty, “the roots of those ideas and whether they are something we could aspire to or not. Maybe things that we hadn’t thought that much about,” Henderson said.

“They structured it this way to get us to think about these ideas, things that are naturally interesting to the kind of person who would serve,” Henderson said.

The reading and writing is heavy, meant to teach “what a cohesive argument looks like, how to support an argument, what a thesis is.” Thucydides, Thomas Hobbes and Alexis de Tocque­ville are on the syllabus.

Also, “We would have many discussions on culture — college culture vs. military culture,” Henderson said. He said the message was to “not isolate ourselves and don’t go into college with the expectation that I’m different.”

One concession he makes to his age is that he lives in an apartment in the Wooster Square neighborhood, while being affiliated with Calhoun College. But otherwise, he’s finding that he fits in well with his new peers. “Most students are very glad to meet someone from a different background,” he said.

“I’ve never had any kind of overt negative experiences with anyone. I’ve been thanked for my service by many students,” Henderson said. “I don’t have those kind of hesitations and thoughts about Yale being this politically liberal place.”

He does recognize the differences with traditional students in life experience and maturity. “I think working full time, no matter what you do, but also in the military, you take on a lot of responsibility at a young age,” he said. “I do try to keep in mind that my experiences are not the norm.”

The Warrior-Scholar Project was launched at Yale by a football linebacker, Jesse Reising, who was seriously injured playing in the 2010 Yale-Harvard game and forced to give up his plans to serve in the Marines. Wanting to give back in some way, he founded Operation Opportunity to assist in the education of veterans and the children of slain servicemen and servicewomen. The Warrior-Scholar Project grew out of that effort.

Sidney Ellington, CEO of the organization, said the first program at Yale involved nine students. “The Yale faculty that participated in it loved it and it was decided that we’ve got a model here that could work,” he said.

“Between now and 2020 the Pentagon expects about a million service members to transition out of the military and back into civilian life,” Ellington said. “Most of these individuals will leave the military with the GI Bill and have this windfall to get a college education.”

He called the Warrior-Scholar Project “an academic boot camp” that requires “Ninja reading” and intensive writing skills. “In college, the emphasis is on ideas. You read differently and you write differently.

“Our program is grounded in the humanities and we do that because we want to foster critical thinking skills [and] the ability to articulate your thoughts in a way that makes you a much more valuable asset moving forward,” Ellington said.

Combining “leadership, problem-solving, team-building, the ability to adapt and overcome” with “a strong top-quality education with a bachelor’s degree — you’ve turned that civic asset into a civic leader,” he said. “We’re trying to create the next Greatest Generation.”

And while many veterans return from the war zones wounded or with post-traumatic stress disorder, Ellington said, “The reality of it is most veterans just want to get back into society and contribute. Veterans want to give back. They’re not all broken heroes.”

This story has been edited to correct Rob Henderson’s military service time to eight years instead of 3½.